Covid-19 positive prison warder ‘nowhere to be found’
An official at Johannesburg's Sun City prison has tested positive for the virus, sparking fears among his colleagues that they and the prison's inmates may have also been infected.
Correctional Services officials work without masks during Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola’s launch of a Covid-19 screening campaign at the Johannesburg Prison, 8 April 2020, and to conduct an inspection at the Johannesburg Management Area to ensure that inmates and officials adhere to the gazetted directions issued to address, prevent and combat the spread of Covid-19 in prisons. Picture: Nigel Sibanda
A prison official from Johannesburg Correctional Services, also known as Sun City, is nowhere to be found after he recently tested positive for Covid-19.
According to the warder’s colleagues, who wished to remain anonymous, doctors called the facility on Monday, indicating that they were looking for the official as he had tested positive and they could not find him.
“Apparently they drove to his house and couldn’t find him so they traced his employer and called to tell us someone had tested positive,” one of his colleagues told The Citizen on Tuesday.
Prison staff are now concerned, as officials have been sharing an overloaded bus with their infected colleague every day, he said.
The bus was provided by the correctional facility to transport officials during the lockdown, but carried at least 70 passengers even though it was a 45-to-48-seater bus, they told The Citizen.
Officials say they were not given any protective equipment on the bus ride. They feared they could have caught the virus and possibly infected inmates. According to the World Prison Brief, the Johannesburg prison’s Medium A had the biggest prison population in the country.
“We didn’t comply with social distancing in the bus. It would be packed and we’d even be holding on to the overhead handrails. It was only today that we were provided with an extra bus to ease the load and try to socially distance.”
Two buses collected a total of 62 officials to be taken to John Heyns Hospital in Vanderbijlpark on Tuesday morning, where they were all tested.
One of the tested officials, who requested to remain anonymous for fear of possibly losing her job, was concerned about the inmates. She said all officials using the bus had been told to self-isolate at home until they receive their results.
“This is so scary because it means we could be positive. We meet with inmates at work and they don’t get visitors so it’s scary that they could get this virus due to negligence from our employer. We’ve complained about this and they didn’t do anything. Now, it could be too late,” she said.
The department of correctional services recorded three new cases at their facilities on Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases in the department to 114.
Correctional services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo confirmed that Gauteng facilities recorded their first case.
“The Western Cape has an additional two cases, taking it to 22 officials, whilst Gauteng recorded its first positive case of an official at Johannesburg management area… Prevention measures for officials are being flagged as the numbers continue to increase, hence a comprehensive care response to all positive cases remains pivotal,” said Nxumalo.
Meanwhile, two recoveries were recorded from East London in the Eastern Cape and Kutama Sinthumele in Limpopo. He said the recoveries come after intensified efforts by the department to implement the Covid-19 disaster management strategy where more officials and inmates are being screened and tested.
– rorisangk@citizen.co.za
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